What We Learned This Week: Dad's Army, Robots, Stealth & Ferrolic

by Ryan WardAugust 20, 20152 min read

Hello.

So there's going to be a Dad's Army film then.

I don't know how many of you have seen the original series. It's a beloved British sitcom about old members of the Home Guard 'protecting' the British Isles during World War Two. However, after witnessing Michael Gambon's choice of costume, you probably think it's some sort of PTSD related experiment for World War One veterans.

These guys have clearly never received any help or therapy after what they went through so the best bet is to let them 'harmlessly' act out some kind of war fantasy in a church hall. Very British. One is dressed in Hawaiian garb, another as a ghost/Native American and I think maybe a triffid towards the end of the line.

Now, Boston Dynamics have been doing some stuff with robots for a while. It's all very serious work so when I saw the video below, I was hoping it would be really boring so I could call it Age Of Dulltron. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm fairly sure this is a major step forward but I can't take it seriously at all.

After Hand-Face Goose Dog escapes the lab, we're confronted with one robot walking over hot coals as a test of balance (and mettle). Then they send an inebriated robot over the same terrain with, in my opinion, hilarious results. After hitting the poor fella with a wrecking ball, we're treated to the pièce de résistance, a robot out for a stroll in the woods.